Liverpool true crime: The Leveson Street massacre and the morbid pub to mark the spot

Liverpool's heritage stretches far and wide. But, while the city was built on its fortune from the docks, it's also seen its fair share of misfortune.

The massacre on Leveson Street in 1849 is one of the more gruesome horrors of the past, where a woman, her two children and her maid were murdered by their lodger.

However, it wasn't just the gory details concerning the bloodshed where Ann Hinrichson, who was heavily pregnant at the time, her sons Henry, aged five, John, aged three, and their maid Mary Parr were killed, which fascinated people.

Even after Maurice Gleeson was hanged for the homicide, this true crime tale continued to capture people's morbid fascination.

Shiverpool guide, Will Goodwin, AKA, Indiana Bones, says: "The aftermath of his death proves to be full of intrigue too. The chief constable in charge of the case acquires personal items belonging to the Gleeson massacre, including the length of rope that he wriggled and writhed on the end of, the mishappen iron poker and broken tongues still clotted with blood hair teeth and bone, and some personal items including his pipe and blood stained clothing.

“The constable opened up a cabinet of horrors for people to come and view these insidious items…

“Then ten months after the massacre at number 20, Leveson St was the scene of a series of the most barbarous and unprovoked murders enrolled on the records of crime in this country. In fact the house in which Mrs Henrichson, her children, and servant were murdered was converted into a beer-house. Every party indulging in a glass of ale is entitled to have pointed out to him the precise spot on which the murders took place, the spots and stains of blood.

“A cast was made of Gleeson's head, and a man from London is said to have bought his clothes to place on a wax figure of the murderer to go on display in Madame Tussaud's chamber of horrors."

All four murder victims were buried in St James' cemetery, where you can be told more of the tale on a Shiverpool tour as part of the award-winning theatrically led ghost and history tour experience.

• For the full story of the Leveson Street massacre watch the video above.